Part 33 (1/2)

”I don't want to flatter you, my dear Bell; but when the prince himself dances twice with you----”

”Of course he did. I am a celebrity. I am the richest young woman in the kingdom, and he would have done it if I had been as ugly as sin--which isn't ugly, by the way.”

”What strange things you say,” murmured Mrs. Fellowes, with mild rebuke.

”I'm sure no girl received more attention than you have tonight. I sat and watched you, my dear, and a spectator sees more of the game than a player.”

”You are right, it is all a game, a gamble,” retorted Lady Bell. ”All those nice young men were playing pitch and toss who should make the hardest running with the great heiress. Do you think I am blind? I can see through them all, and I despise them. There isn't a man among them but would pay me the same court if I were as plain as Lucifer----”

”My dear Bell----”

”But it is true,” said Lady Bell. ”I can read them all. And if they knew how I despised them, even while I smile upon them, they would keep at arm's length for very shame. I wish I hadn't a penny in the world.”

”My dear Bell!” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Mrs. Fellowes, really and truly shocked at such a fearfully profane wish.

”I do! I do! I should then find out if any one of them cared for me--for myself. You say I am beautiful, but you are so partial; do you think I am beautiful enough to cause any man to risk his all in life for my sake?”

”I don't know. I don't just follow you,” said poor Mrs. Fellowes.

”No, you are half asleep,” retorted Lady Bell. ”There, curl yourself up and snooze. I shan't talk any more.”

Lady Bell leaned forward, and looked up at the stars--the same stars that seemed so numerous to poor Jack--and pondered over the events of the evening.

It was true that a prince of the blood had danced there with her; it was true that, all through the evening, she had been surrounded by a court of the best men in London; it was true that she had sent one half the women home burning with envy and malice and all uncharitableness; but still she was not happy.

”No,” she murmured, unheard by the sleeping companion; ”the dream of my life has not yet been fulfilled. I have not yet met the man to whom I could say, 'I am yours, take me!' Perhaps I never shall; and until I do, I will remain Lady Bell, though they buzz round my money-bags till I am deaf with their hum.”

The brougham was going at a great pace, simply because the coachman very reasonably desired to get home and to bed; and Lady Bell saw the houses flit past as if they had been part of a panorama got up for her special amus.e.m.e.nt.

But suddenly the brougham swerved, and, indeed, nearly upset, and the stillness of the night was broken by what seemed remarkably like an oath by the coachman.

Lady Bell felt that something was wrong; but she neither turned color nor lost her presence of mind.

Putting her head, with a thousand pounds of jewels on it, through the window, she said, in clear tones:

”What is the matter, Jackson?”

”I--whoa! I don't quite know, my lady; I think it is a man. Something came right across the road. Yes, it is a man.”

Lady Bell opened the brougham door, stepped into the road--the light from the lamp flas.h.i.+ng on her pearls--and went toward the horse.

”Keep away from her hind legs, for goodness' sake, my lady,” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Jackson. ”Keep still, will you!” this was of course addressed to the horse.

”What is it? what is it?” asked Lady Bell, peering about.

”Here, my lady, on the near side--on the left. It's down in the road, whatever it is.”

Lady Bell went behind the brougham to the near side--she was too well acquainted with horses and their moods to cross in front of the horse's eyes--and looked about her. For a moment she could see nothing, but presently, when her eyes had become used to the darkness, she saw a man lying, as it seemed, right under the horse's body.

Her impulse--and she always acted on that impulse--was to pull him out.

But to pull a man even an inch is a difficult task even for the strongest girl, and after a moment's tug she was about to tell Jackson to alight while she stood at the horse's head, when suddenly the prostrate man staggered to his feet, and leaned against the brougham as if it had been specially built and brought there for that purpose.